Human rights

Human Rights Policy statement and Global Policy on Worker Welfare

United’s Human Rights Policy statement and Global Policy on Worker Welfare reflect our commitment to conducting our business in a manner consistent with these principles including, for example, the principles reflected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights issued by the General Assembly of the United Nations. United supports and respects internationally proclaimed human rights and is not complicit in human rights abuses. United’s core values and culture embody a commitment to ethical business practices and good corporate citizenship.

This Human Rights Policy statement and the Global Policy on Worker Welfare are consistent with our broader commitment to ethical business practices, which are embodied in our Code of Ethics and Business Conduct. As described elsewhere, the Code serves as the cornerstone of the Company’s ethics and compliance program. United has appropriate mechanisms in place to monitor compliance with the Code and facilitate reporting of possible violations.

Equal opportunities

As discussed in the Code and the Working Together Guidelines, United is an equal opportunity employer committed to providing its employees with a non-discriminatory work environment that promotes open and honest communication and embraces dignity, respect and diversity in all aspects of its business operations. United further supports the elimination of all forms of forced, bonded or compulsory labor as well as the freedom of association. As reflected in our Anti-Bribery/Anti-Corruption Policy, United prohibits all forms of corruption and bribery.

Child labor

United condemns all forms of exploitation of children. To our knowledge, United does not use child labor in its services, products or supply chain. United also supports laws duly enacted to prevent and punish the crime of sexual exploitation of children and will cooperate with law enforcement authorities on these matters.

Human trafficking awareness

As part of our commitment to human rights, United has implemented targeted internal policies and procedures to support the global fight against human trafficking. These policies and procedures have been implemented across our business functions where we believe we can make the greatest impact, particularly in the areas of training frontline employees on recognizing and reporting suspected human trafficking and establishing fair labor standards in the procurement process for our supplier relationships and subcontractors for our government contracts.

Human trafficking training

Since 2016, we have provided mandatory human trafficking awareness and reporting procedure training to our flight attendants. In 2019, we expanded this mandatory annual training to include our frontline agents, who provide customer service at various stages of the check-in and boarding process. Since 2018, we have provided nearly 75,000 employees with human trafficking awareness and reporting procedure training. Our hope is that it will equip them with the tools and resources to be able to identify potential signs of human trafficking and so we can then involve the appropriate law enforcement officials for further investigation. We acknowledge the role that the transportation industry plays in eliminating human trafficking and we are committed to doing our part to help put an end to the human trafficking crisis.

In addition to our human trafficking awareness and reporting procedure training, we have established procedures in our procurement processes that are designed to help ensure that our suppliers and subcontractors are also complying with applicable laws and are held to the same standards set forth in our Human Rights policy statement and Global Policy on Worker Welfare. For example, we have added certain provisions regarding fair labor practices to our supply contracts, including provisions that require our counterparties to provide notice if they become aware of any non-compliance with applicable fair labor laws. We also conduct due diligence with respect to our counterparties and their operations, which can include third-party reputation analyses and site checks. Looking ahead, we are working on a new initiative to adopt a supplier code of conduct to ensure our suppliers understand our commitments to integrity and our expectations with respect to those with whom we do business.

Anti-Slavery and Anti-Human Trafficking Statement

Download the Anti-Slavery and Anti-Human Trafficking Statement to learn about the steps United has taken, including through the end of its fiscal year ending December 31, 2021, to ensure that slavery and human trafficking are not taking place in its supply chains or in any part of its business.